This Girl

Chapter 24: A Hippopotamus From Another Planet

I stand, looking at myself in the mirror, tugging at the skimpy outfit that I've been forced to wear. The shorts are literally NOTHING. I mean, seriously, designers put prices on shorts that are actually not there. And to top it all off, there's frickin' rips in these stupid, short denim shorts. I tug on them and glare at myself in the mirror. 

Its better then what I have to wear tomorrow.... I shiver at the thought. I am not looking forward to that.

To draw attention away from the skimpy pants, I've tied around my waist a checkered shirt that's too small for me to wear now. I'm wearing a black shirt tucked into my pants - if you can call them that, I don't really think that they're there. They're just a bit of fabric with a zip and button. And I'm wearing my hair to draw attention away from my legs again. I add a black hair band, pushing my hair back and chucking on the flats I wore yesterday. I place my watch from Adele onto my hand and gather my stuff, taking an apple from the kitchen and some money for the cafeteria. 

"Bye!" I call to my parents before I jump into my car and drive off. Oh, if my family see me in this outfit. Boy, I would hate that. I can just picture Mum's face.

"Oh, honey, you've finally grown up," she'd say. I refrain from rolling my eyes at the thought. The pants - excuse me, piece of material - keep riding up as I drive, siting on the leather seat, hands on the wheel. 

The head band is seriously starting to annoy me and so when I pull into the car park I take it out and scavenge around for a hair tie. I can't find one so I settle on a bobby pin in the glove box and pull two strands behind my head in a sort of half-up half-down style. I sling my black backpack onto one shoulder and walk into school. I feel my phone ding as I reach the school gates so I lean against a pole and take it out. It's a message from Instagram, from a girl I don't follow but recognize as one of Amanda's blonde haired goons. 

Ugly, go back to Paris, you're not wanted here. They can work on your style and maybe get you a new face? 

I frown at the message. It doesn't make a load of sense, but I'd expect that from Amanda or one of her barbie dolls. I think she's basically saying that I'm ugly and that I need  serious makeover. I roll my eyes, blocking the girl and putting my phone back into my bag. 

I start walking when I see Bubbles racing towards me out of the corner of my eye. "Woah! Are you trying to impress Alex!"

"What? Bubbles, no!" I say, tugging on the pants.

"Well, I doubt that its Noah you wanna impress," she says, continuing to walk with me. 

"I'm not trying to impress anyone!" I say. "My mum gave me these clothes because she packed all my other ones!!!"

Bubbles raises her eyebrows but doesn't say anything. 

We walk into English together and take out our pencils, ready for the exam. I handed in my Physics and Religion assignment and had a Geography exam yesterday, so that's three things ticked off my exam list. Today I've got English, History and calculus. 

Dad's started moving the boxes and he says he has fully set up a couple of rooms. We are completely moved in tomorrow afternoon, which puts heaps of stress on all my subjects. 

We finish the test and walk out of the classroom. I wave goodbye to Bubbles for a few seconds, heading towards the cafeteria line. I start placing my food on a tray when someone sidles up to me and does the same. 

"Hey babe," I say, already knowing who it is.

"Yo dude. How was your english exam?" he asks. 

"Oh, I think I did pretty good," I say, throwing him a sideways glance as I shovel some pasta onto my plate. He squirts tomato sauce onto his meat pie.